Oscar buzz: everything that went down at the 92nd annual award show

Tim Petersen, Staff Writer

Sometimes, the drama at the Oscars isn’t just on film. Last night the 92nd annual Academy Awards ceremony, also known as the Oscars, was held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. I watched the Oscars live, and the following are my initial reactions to the ceremony’s biggest moments as the event unfolded live on television.

The time is 8:01, I have my Diet Coke, and the Oscars are starting.

Janelle Monae opens with a wonderful tribute to “Mr. Rogers Neighborhood” singing the famous TV show’s theme song. She then transitions into a musical number featuring Billy Porter and background dancers dressed up as characters from the past year’s most popular films such as Joker, Midsommar and many more.

Regina King then arrives on the stage to announce the nominees and winners for Best Supporting Actor. The nominees are Al Pacino, Tom Hanks, Anthony Hopkins, Joe Pesci, and Brad Pitt.

The time comes to announce the winner, King opens the envelope and announces that Brad Pitt is the winner for his role in “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood.” I am not very surprised because he won many awards for this role leading up to the Oscars and was highly predicted to win.

Mahershala Ali then walks on stage to announce the nominees for Best Supporting Actress. The nominees are Laura Dern, Kathy Bates, Florence Pugh, Scarlett Johansson, and Margot Robbie. The Oscar goes to Laura Dern for “Marriage Story.” The Oscar didn’t go to Jennifer Lopez for “Hustlers” and that’s all I’m going to say about that.

They then start showing clips from the movie “8 Mile.” Right now I’m thinking, “If Eminem walks on that stage I’m going to flip.” Eminem, sure enough, appears on the stage of the Dolby Theatre and raps his Oscar-winning song “Lose Yourself” from “8 Mile.” Best Director nominee, Martin Scorsese seems to be enjoying the performance.

After a montage of iconic international films, Penelope Cruz comes on stage to announce the nominees for Best International Film. The nominees are “Corpus Christi,” “Honeyland,” “Les Miserables,” “Pain and Glory,” “Parasite.” The award goes to Bong Joon Ho for “Parasite.”

I am not surprised at all. “Parasite” is the first film nominated in this category from South Korea and what a movie to be the first. I watched “Parasite” the same day as the Oscars and it was possibly one of the best movies I have seen, and that’s including the Wayans brothers classic, “White Chicks.”

Taika Waititi then introduced Gal Gadot, Brie Larson, and Sigourney Weaver to the stage. The three women, who are widely known for playing strong female leads in action movies, introduce the Academy’s first female orchestra conductor, Eimear Noone, who leads the orchestra in playing scores from all films nominated in the Best Original Score category.

Gadot, Larson, and Weaver then introduce the nominees for Best Original Score being “Joker,” “Marriage Story,” “1917,” “Little Women,” and “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.” The winner is Hildur Guðnadóttir for “Joker.”

Now the three women announce the nominees for Best Original Song. Nominated films included “Harriet,” “Rocketman,” “Breakthrough,” “Frozen II,” and “Toy Story 4.” (I’m Gonna) Love Me Again by Elton John and Bernie Taupin from “Rocketman” won.

  1. Am. Livid.

It’s okay though, Cynthia Erivo has many more years in her and I highly believe that this won’t be the only year she is nominated. John’s song sounded like a hodgepodge of all of his better songs put together, while Erivo gave a beautiful performance with her song Stand Up from the movie “Harriet.”

Spike Lee then announces the nominees for Best Director. The nominees are Bong Joon Ho, Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, Sam Mendes, and Todd Phillips. The winner is Bong Joon Ho for “Parasite.” While giving his speech in Korean with a translator, he talks about how he studied Scorsese’s film in college and never dreamed of being nominated for an Oscar let alone beating Scorsese.

Last year’s Best Lead Actress winner Olivia Coleman takes the stage to present the award for Best Lead Actor. The nominees are Joaquin Phoenix, Antonio Banderas, Adam Driver, Leonardo Dicaprio, and Jonathan Pryce. The winner is Joaquin Phoenix for “Joker.” Phoenix gave a very powerful speech about equality amongst people and animals. I am on no level shocked that he won.

After Phoenix’s speech, last year’s Best Lead Actor winner Rami Malek takes the stage to introduce the nominees for Best Lead Actress. The nominees are Renee Zellweger, Saoirse Ronan, Scarlett Johansson, Cynthia Erivo, and Charlize Theron. The winner is Renee Zellweger for “Judy.” I would have loved if Erivo or Johansson won but Zellweger was wonderful in her portrayal of the legend, Judy Garland.

Next up is the Best Picture category. Of the nine movies nominated I have seen “Parasite,” “Marriage Story,” “Joker,” “The Irishman,” and “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood” and I have yet to see “1917,” “Ford V. Ferrari,” “Little Women,” and “Jojo Rabbit.”

If the award does not go to Parasite or Marriage Story I will be furious.

Jane Fonda owns the stage in a stunning red dress as she goes up to present the nominees for Best Picture at the end of the night. The Oscar goes to “Parasite.” It is now officially the first non-English language film to win Best Picture.

I would highly recommend that everyone watch this movie, you can rent it for $7 on Amazon.

With the speeches finished, the 92nd Annual Academy Awards is officially over and I am already making predictions for next year’s Oscars. Watch out for “Miss Americana” to be nominated for Best Documentary Feature.